The safest bet is that if you had a child in 2012, you named the child either Mason or Emma. Those were the top boys’ and girls’ names in New Hampshire last year as recorded by the Department of State Division of Vital Records Administration. Not Mason or Emma? How about Jackson or Sophia? Those names came in second place.

The top 10 boys’ names in the state last year, starting with most popular, were: Mason, Jackson, Jacob, Liam, Noah, Logan, Benjamin, Lucas, William and Owen.

An interesting, though admittedly non-scientific, note regarding that last name: The Social Security Administration shows the name Madison as essentially non existent until 1985. The year before that (or perhaps about nine months), a movie called “Splash” hit the theaters. In it, Tom Hanks’ character falls in love with a mermaid (Daryl Hannah), who chooses the name after seeing a sign for Madison Avenue. Hanks’ character even remarks, “Madison? That’s not a name, that’s a street.”

It’s a name now. Madison is reliably in the top 10 girls’ names each year.

The U.S. Social Security Administration has an abundance of information on baby names going back a century. According to their records, the names Mason and Jackson were nearly non-existent until the 1980s, when their popularity began spiking. Noah took off in the 1980s as well, Jacob in the 1970s and Liam, not until the 1990s.

For the girls, Emma was very popular during the 1920s, nearly dropping out of sight from the 1960s to 80s, but since then, it has become twice as popular as it ever was. Isabella, Sophia and Ava all have undergone huge spikes in popularity since the 1990s.

Michael has been the name to beat across the country this past century. It held the boys’ top slot every year from 1954 through 1998 with the exception of 1960, when the Goliath was fittingly bested by David for all you biblical buffs.

How do last year’s names compare to the top names a century ago?

In 1912, the top five boys’ names, starting with most popular, were: John, William, James, Robert, Joseph.

In 1912, the top five girls’ names were: Mary, Helen, Dorothy, Margaret, Ruth.

Popular names were pretty reliable a hundred years ago. From 1912 to 1921, Mary, Helen, Dorothy, Margaret and Ruth comprised the top five girl names in varying orders each year; the boys only had six top five names for the same decade: John, William, James, Robert, Joseph and Charles.

Thanks to Rochester City Clerk Kelly Walters and E. Nicholl Marshall, from the NH Division of Vital Records Administration, for the New Hampshire statistics.